i don't think that passes the laugh test. what we all know about strom thurmond and his career. i would support "the wall street journal" who thought that this menu at a close relationship had been employed by thurmond. he had written that in the review and they thought he was the best person to evaluate the book for their readers. >> you have no knowledge of that being done at the time, that lee edwards was going to be -- they didn't tell you that he was going to be the person? >> no, no. >> did he have any other favors like "the new york times" or anything? >> "the washington post" and the "washington monthly." if you google strom thurmond's america you can find them, and you should. [laughter] >> what is next?

>> i don't know. i just finished this one. i'm still trying to figure it out. that would be fascinating. thank you all for coming out. it's been a real pleasure. [applause] >> now on booktv members of the first post-9/11 u.s. naval academy graduating class talk about their experience in serving in iraq and afghanistan. this event held on september 11, 2012, was hosted by the navy memorial here in washington d.c.. it's just under an hour. [applause]

>> thanks to all my classmates and co-editors and mentors and supporters who helped make this possible. it was in favor of 2000 when i mentioned this book. there were things happening for me as an active-duty in southern afghanistan in kandahar. is working for general mick nicholson. doing really cool things as a swell, a sand sailor now supporting my my country. maybe i should write a book. really? compared to ben wagner? really? compared to jacob salbi? meagan farley, the less female f-14 pilot to fly over iraq. or my vbs, jason jackson. so the stories in this book were exceptional and i knew that my role as class president of 2002 at gannett the stories and connect the box and bring the canal -- personalized together to weave together but that could define the decade so i call

carol anderson. carol anderson lost her son richard in a helicopter accident. i called her on the phone and as i did all the mothers who wrote in the book who lost sons and i said carol my name is joshua and i would like to talk to you about richard. are you selling t-shirts? no maam, and from the nail academy class of 2002 and i'm on the board of trustees and i have an important project i'd like to talk to about. this is not about switchers. i don't want to talk to the naval academy. she was actually torn at the time. she was suffering about her son's loss and she hadn't been reached out to buy the academy family and we could do better. i said maam we are writing a book to honor richard. are classmates, over 100, 33 will make the cut and we would like to hear your voice. do it for richard and do it for those who been. a few weeks ago after we sold our first printing, i received

an e-mail from her. my name is carol anderson and i receive my copy of "in the shadow of greatness" late yesterday and just finished reading it. i spent much of the right -- night and couldn't put a damper in the acknowledgments section he talked about those leaders in the class of 2002 who advocated the project. i was a skeptic. i wasn't sure how the book would turn out. i wrote the book more for myself and for richard because i needed to heal. i also wondered, how good it would actually be. recently in e-mail came out about the release date and asked me to spread the word, i did as my duty. i e-mailed all a new and told them about the book that i said, although it was called a must-read by tom brokaw, i had it read it myself and could endorse it. i had no idea what was to come. i do now and look forward to reading the other story, the courage not just of the battle

but the next at the perseverance, the triumphed through your academy days and beyond and the failures to make them stronger. she and i worked for two years on her story. it is gripping and it will make you emotional when you think about how a mother answered the door when they find out they have lost their son. when i called, and navy football player linebacker type, he wasn't sure how he was going to find his voice either but since we were classmates and company mates i said you are casualty evacuation pilot. you saved over 150 marines, soldiers, iraqis and three deployments. you honored another academy graduate who was killed and you honored ronnie winchester when he read the story. let's find your voice. we wrote this book and gave the podium to people who are too humble to speak about their

service to do their job stay in and day out nobly and don't have a bestseller and don't go out into "the new york times" and write their stories. they are too proud into private. so i cajoled rocky as they had this vision of weaving the stories together. i wanted universal principle and battlefield ... feeling the pressure combat but i also wanted the universal attributes of partnership and diplomacy that we saw from 9/11 to now in 2012. hear something from rocky story. i experienced several close calls while flying during my first deployment in iraq. we received multiple rpg attacks, small arms fire and when we are flying our final approach on departure for the mass casualty call from combat outpost ramadi. the first rpg was shot directly in front of us and on final approach past 10 and to 15 feet above the rotors. another was fired from behind us

on departure on the left side of the aircraft. rpg's and small arms fire were shot numerous times on several occasions and the aircraft to damage. it is think they remember a navy s.e.a.l. him a second deployment in 2006. the very same zone in ramadi, he was the first killed in action in iraq one of his fellow seals came with them on the flight when he picked them up. he had a severe gunshot wound to the head and face but was alive during the transit. he's come to his injuries after we dropped them off. and it became quite clear early on that no no one was invincible here, not even a s.e.a.l.. i am very proud of rocky story and the other 32 stories in this book. at there are 60 fields who graduated from the naval academy class of 2002. we provide officers with a diverse skill set who are in marine corps. how many s.e.a.l.s do you think wrote prayerbook? zero.

one was my roommate who served in guilty moynihan then went on to civilian world. i knew he would talk to you that they're s.e.a.l.s. not one of the 16 bit. after three years of writing anonymously, saying they could write with a pseudonym and saying i would write for them if they did not have the pros, there is too much integrity for the silence service. so as we climbed the ranks approaching no easy day, but that may be doesn't follow all the rules or embrace what we are embracing come we hope you buy her book. we hope you realize that ours is a no easy decade, story of leadership and lessons from a diverse group of missionaries and think that you can take from the war sound to the boardroom. i want to talk to you about our

title, "in the shadow of greatness" and i want to talk about the great people who endorse this book. as you know, james gergen is on the cover. he is a leader at the harvard kennedy school of government and we are pleased as a former naval officer that he would support her book -- his 1000 word forward will just knock your socks off. we have general allen, the senior leader of our joint missions in afghanistan, aral lock where the senior naval -- for other regions in asia. >> sof admiral mullen the former chairman of the joint chiefs who some of the classmate and his other son who graduated from -- and misleading sailors today. this nonprofit book, this humble book that is good for the country. and then mr. brokaw. for nine months i e-mailed him and i tried really hard, and i pushed and pushed but i don't quit. and in the final weeks, he

submitted his blurb. i have some bad news. there is more security around tom brokaw then admiral mullen. [laughter] so are we the next greatest generation? as the lead author of this project i would say we are prepared for greatness. we serve in unique ways. we bled and lost classmates and shipmates and subordinates and seniors on the battlefield. you will see this in this book and when you support your country in that way it changes the way you want to serve at home. so how do the world war ii generation view of? they say the ultimate sacrifice in the big came home and where the engine of progress for this nation for the latter part of the century. week, the 2.15 million veterans who are coming home in the years to come, are prepared for good things, for great things, to lead our country in uniform and out and you will see more of those great stories in the latter part of our book. and in closing, the greatest

generation of the 20th century lived through the great depression and fought a two-front war. our generation was facing a faceless enemy and return to a country and economic turmoil. we aspire to be the next greatest generation, showing humility and respect for those who came before us. if we were to emerge in the shadow of her grandparents we must persist with leadership. on every battlefield and in every boardroom from baghdad to washington and from kabul to the silicon valley our commitment is resolute, our nation's best days lie ahead. thank you. [applause] i mentioned before, i hope planned tailgaters and did some

physical duties and we write books but in august 2009 i got a phonecall from a classmate that one of my classmates was killed, captain -- and his mother is here today. one of those authors that i worked with over the time and we are honored to have you maam and this event is a tribute to matt and we are grateful for your words and thank you. [applause] >> in 9/11, 2001. four days earlier i was attending the naval academy parents weekend for the class of 2002. this was mattheus chance to proudly show off his naval academy before graduating in the spring. for me the day began at the aerospace engineering -- as my

husband gary was a guest speaker for the professor who had passed him 26 years earlier. matthew beamed with pride as his father spoke. later that day matt said mom, i want to show you something. we looked away from objectivity senate took me to ben croft hall, the dormitory. we walked to the great doors and into that magnificent rotunda. he led me straight ahead and up the worn marble stairs to memorial hall, a ceremonial room used for special occasions. i smiled as i remembered three years earlier as he looked at me with a frightened glance, holding his hand up as his father swore him into the navy. that day, the rumor sounded with other parents doing the same thing. that day, the day i was with matthew, the room was hushed as he led me through the hall, past

a sign asking for quiet and respect. i looked around that room filled with plaques describing unimaginable courage, ancient flags flown in battles, paintings depicting hard-fought battles -- battles. he moved me to the back of the room and below a flag that said don't give up the ship with a large plaque and a lid of black case. he looked at me and he said mom, these are the real heroes. these are the ones who died in combat for our safety, for our freedom and for our country. i looked at that case and i saw so many names from vietnam and the world wars and i thanked god that day we were at peacetime. after showing me some of the other historical markers, matthew and i left the hall and join the families were a wonderful weekend filled with activities designed for the

families to show their accomplishments as the midshipmen. four days later i stood my eighth grade classroom and tearfully watched the second plane crash into the world trade center. i knew the piece i was thankful for was over. our world had changed forever. matthew called me after the pentagon was hit turkoman he said, i'm on duty and we are locking down bancroft hall. we may be a target, don't expect to hear from me for a while. this class of 2002 would transition immediately to a war that for the first time started on our soil. ..

he took lead the first of july to see the family and secretly married therese sample he arrived in afghanistan the end of july and wrote these final words in his journal august 2nd. mom, dad, i can never repay you for all you have done for me. you made me into the man i am today. i hope i have made you proud. that's always been any goal. i love you both so much. tell the girl is love them and cooperate be -- couldn't be a prouder older brother. i have always tried to be an honorable map and i believe in what we are doing here.

i'm doing this for my family so it need not fear, my country, so it can be a beak cop of light around the world. and finally, i do this for myself, so that i might know the measure of myself, and in the end, not be found wanting. i believe that it is my duty to fight, and having done all i can to simply stand against this and all the evil works upon this earth. he called me august 5th and said, the people are so nice and the kids are so cute, mom. they'd rather have peps and paper than food and water. can you get a fundraiser going when school starts in two days later i was talking to my students on the first day of school about starting that fundraiser when the marines walked down the hall to tell me that matthew had been killed in a sniper attack while saving others. from the book "in the shadow of greatness," written as if matthew were telling the store

it reads, we went out of base camp toward an area where we knew there would be danger. 80 taliban could be in the vicinity. not more than ten minutes into our patrol, shots rang out. my team dismounted and cleared an enemy position in a mud house. i climbed atop the roof and killed man holding an rpg during my assent. i was visually looking at the area to call in air support when i was hit. everything went black. that day, my world went black, too. my daughters came home to care for their broken parents. my oldest returned to washington state to send her special ops husband off to his fifth tour in the war. my youngest daughter left her beloved naval academy to take care of her grieving mother and father, months of brokenness, sacrificing her education.

the people of richmond hill, georgia, and the surrounding areas, welcomed matthew home with tears, flags, and salutes. the streets were line for 17 miles from the airport to the church. local choirs joined to sing at his memorial service at the midwestist church that helped raced him. a local boy execute troop clenchinged pencils and papers and sent them to afghanistan. jim had a vision and the matthew freeman project began. he dedicated time and energy to produce a short film that launched the project on memorial day, 2010. the project has sent over seven tons of supplies to our marines in afghanistan for human tear efforts. matthew's city, and our great

arm would bases, and the savannah air guard, have helped me heal by supporting the math few freeway -- freeman project, and the 5k run for peace. last night i dedicated a memorial in our town, to captain matthew freeman joe jacket proudly announced the scholarship we're starting for the siblings of the fallen in combat. these are the forgotten mourners who sacrifice or post opinion their own education to help family. very few people know about gold star families. these are parents, siblings, thousands, children, who survived the death of their loved one. as the mother of a fallen marine i'm sure we're all ready for this war to end and i encourage you to learn mow about helping gold star families.

i humbly ask for a report on our human tear efforts in war-torn country. our men and women are working for peace, not war. this generation of grandchildren, of the greatest generation, may live in the shadow of the greatest general e.r.a. but this great generation has carried on war for 11 years straight with no draft. there has been little media attention for their hard work and sacrifices, military wifes and friendses have raised children, working hard to keep the soldiers alive for their children. these military families have sacrifices the joys of family life so the rest of us can feel safe. my son-in-law is currently on his eighth deployment. my daughter and the spouses spof special operations are my heroes. fear is part of they ever -- their every day. i was so broken at the time i

was asked write my chapter, i had trouble expressing myself. there's input from my husband, his wife, his high school sweetheart, and his naval academy friends. matthew's story would not have been written without their input and i deeply thank them. this book, "in the shadow of greatness," will help america understand the sacrifices, the love of country, and the courage of the brave men and women and the families of the greatest military force in the world. freedom isn't free. god bless our military families, and god bless america. [applause] [applause] [applause]

[applause] >> thank you, lisa. thank you, mrs. freeman. war brings us sorrow and weakness, but through the challenges we faced over the past ten years at war, we also got stronger. and several of my classmates, seth, who is a proud marine, scholar from princeton has gone on to do amazing things for our nation. he is going to share his words for you and i'm greatle for his effort for the book and his contribution to this effort. [applause] >> thanks, josh. like josh said, i'm seth lynn, the director of the second service at gw university, and our mission is to train

veterans, some of the folks that have contributed to this incredible book, to continue serving in public office. and it grew out of a nonprofit i started a few years ago called veterans campaign, and my chapter of the book is about starting veterans campaign, and we're now houseled at the gw university and i want to recognize my boss, mark kennedy, the director of the graduate school. [applause] >> yes. mark spent six years in congress representing minnesota and his son is anavey ensign, just got winged. he didn't go to the naval academy. i won't hold it against him. he went to notre dame. i'm still smarting from the beatdown a couple weeks ago. >> josh wanted to make sure i

submitted to this book. josh came to one of our kind training, and i'm going -- and thought about running, and if you don't think josh will be president sometime, you're not paying take. thank you, josh. i'll start by reading the first two paragraphs of the chapter i submitted to "in the shadow of greatness." to exit camp, imwe had to zig-zag around a serpentine, set of cement barriers staggeredded to prevent someone from driving straight into the camp at high speed. the names of famous battles were etched on the barriers so whenever my marines and i exited the camp we received a course in history. we would steer our vehicles around the first barrier, marked tripoli, and barb berry pilots and the next was philippines.

another one was guadalcanal, iwo jima, the next one, pusan, and the falling one marked kanaan, and the next to last one marked kuwait, and somalia some the final one carried the names of the marine corps' most recent battles. as we exit the wire, suddenly the battle names stopped and we became part of history ourselves. now, it's strange to think that just 11 years ago, last night, we all went to bed peacefully, without any notion the following notion we were going to be thrown, ready or not, into what became the longest war in american history, and it's hard now for me to imagine words like fallujah, and hedetha without have something sort of emotional response, and it's hard to remember what it was like to think about a date like

september 11th without all the emotions it brings up. but it's also equally difficult to remember all my classmates, and we were -- what we were all like before this great burden of war was placed on our shoulders, forcing up to grow up quick than we imagined. our country's response to 9/11 brought out the best in many of us and was the silver lining around the cloud of dust the weeks after the world trade center disappeared. i first realized this of all places while watching "the daily show," and jon stewart said this attack, it happened. it's not a dream but the aftermath of is, the recovery is a dream realize, and that's martin luther king's dream whatever barriers we put up, to see these guys, firefighter, and

policemen from all over the country, rebuilding with buckets. that's extraordinary, and that's why we've already won. 11 years later we can look at our nation and say, well, it's as divided as it's been in recent memory, and maybe he haven't conceived some of the unity we experienced was, as jon stewart said, was just temporary, and that sometimes makes it even more discouraging to watch the spectacle that our national political systems often become. but my chapter of "in the shadow of greatness" explains why i haven't lost hope. that's because i've spent the years since 9/11 surrounded by a group of people who continue to live that dream. and who continue to set their differences aside and put themselves in harm's way, and unfailingly do what thunder country asked of them. and these same people inspired me to start this nonprofit to help more people like them

become elected officials. over the last decade, as we have watched politicians argue over who is responsible for causing the nation's problems, our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, have unfailingly done what america asked of them, even when doing so meant enormous personal sacrifice. for example, my classmate, gary, kept himself in the closet until "don't ask, don't tell" was lifted so he could continue to put himself in harm's way and serve his country. we heard about my classmate, matt fremont. i learned about matt's death on facebook which is not the ideal place but i allow pled to go right to his page see what people were saying about him at the time, which was incredibly that that tick -- cathartic. i remember reading what he

poweed before he was killed, and he posted something up and it started an argument and someone says you thick -- think this and i say this, and matt said, incredibly inspiring. he said, hey, don't but on my page. i disagree with some political decisions but he is my commander-in-chief and i support him in all military decisions. to my knowledge, that was the last post my friend matt wrote on facebook. and in our last two national elections we watched our country registering complete dissatisfaction with the status quo, throwing them out. throwing them out again. but if we're going to turn the ship of state around we have to do more than just change the helmsmen over and over again and expect a different result. we need more people like matt freeman in the pilothouse, and while i believe our country has the best political system in the

world, the selection process does not always favor candidates who are selfless, courageous, or willing to set aside their differences to do what is best for the country, and these wars they have been fighting in iraq and afghanistan, despite the terrible burden they imposed on us and the military for the last decades, they forged a generation of leaders who exemplify those exact future, and while polls demonstrate the americans trust congress less than any system in the u.s. they hold the men and women in uniform in the highest confidence. and those if you read this book about my classmates will begin to understand why. the book, as josh said, is titled "in the shadow of greatness," and it's because my generation was lucky enough to learn from the example of the generations of veterans who went before us. and if we're truly living up to their example, our service to our country is going to have to continue after we have returned

home from the battlefields of the middle east, and with that i'm going close out with a final two paragraphs of my chapter. i believe it's true that to whom much is given, much is expected. as the iraq and afghanistan generation returns home, begins taking the nation's rynes or leadership, i'm reminded of exiting camp al qaeda. i like the battle names ton the stone barriers we have the exams of patriots like george washington, and teddy roosevelt, and dwight eisenhower, and john f. kennedy, who became some of our country's most esteemed leaders after returning from war, we can look at ted stephens and dan ion knew way, who fought together and despite opt's opposite parties maintained a lifetime friendship, and you can look at john kerri, john mccain, who, upon returning home, took the lead in normalizing relations shift

vietnam and helping to heal a wound nation. it's now our responsibility to uphold the legacy of those who have gone before us, as we, in keeping with the mission of the united states naval academy, assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship, and government. thank you very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, we're going to make a quick transition in the front of the room to set up for the q & a by showing a brief video do you have the video? we have been having a little technical difficulties here today. here we go. ladies and gentlemen, this video you're about to watch is a call to action, we encourage you to

buy the book and join the cause. thank you very much. [applause] >> 9/11. our lives changed. we're prepared to serve in uniform but weren't sure how and we deployed for a decade, ponding to our nation's call in harm's way in unique places in the air, on the ground, on the seas. >> we share stories of the last ten years of war, when we were in uniform and this planes struck the towers, we knew our paths had changed, and what we tried to do is document the story from the services aspect. >> more than 100 classmates wrote for this book. you'll be amazed at the stories. ben wagner, serving in harm's way, honors doug. >> the last female fighter pilot over iraq. see how it was to be a sniper on christmas day in iraq. the book is truly one of a kind.

not only do you have stories on the battlefield and bullets whizzing by your head, you're going to read the stories of their family. they're truly gut-wrenching. >> the american people want to know more about how those served after 9/11. >> over the last few months we have received amazing, humbling feedback about the book. thousands of people have written in. >> so we started patriot week, it's a campaign that now from saturday, all the proceeds from our book go to eight amazing veteran organizations. they're the ones doing the heavy lifting, they help veterans transition from the uniform to civilian life. they support the families of the fallen. those who paid the ultimate sacrifice who need our help today ins' and the years to come. >> if you are watching this

video, you're already helping. this book is 100% nonprofit. all of our proceed goes to military veteran organizations. but exclusively organizations will get -- if you participates. >> for all the great veteran organizations making the country strong, thanks for everything you do for our country. ♪ [applause] >> all right, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for sticking with us this evening. i know it's an extended happy hour. i would like our panel to have a seat. and for those faces who haven't

been introduced yet i want to introduce graham plaster, one of the coeditors of the book, and john astor. we want to take your questions and answers. first i want to take one moment and i didn't clear this yet with josh so i hope this is okay. i'd like to take a moment to recognize chris dahl. our awesome editor who created these videos, so if you could help me give him a round of applause. [applause] >> there are so many people who stepped up in the last year, essentially to make this project happen, and we can't thank them all. we're happy you're all here to join us. if we don't have volunteers to ask questions, i will call people up who i know are here. >> right, okay. one more thing. we have eight great organizations we partnered with

for patriot week. we would like those partners to stand and be recognized right now. so if you are patriot reporter, please rise. [applause] >> thank you so much. again, as we said in the video, you guys actually do the heavy lifting. we try to share the stories in the book and highlight the way these wonderful groups are carrying on helping veterans. we just wrote the book and they actually do it every single day. so now without further adieu i'd like to see hands raised up. we have microphones roaming. >> we do. >> i have a question for the naval academy graduate. on september 11th we were allegedly attacked for is lambist reasons and the war on

terror is mostly is lambist. but for naval expansion there's been a lot oh more from the'm of china, and pakistan is the most important city you never heard of because the chinese got a listening post there to listen to ships going in and out of the strait of hormuz and also have resource relationship with iran and sudan. and i think y'all know the human rights records of those countries and how they tend to make war on their neighbors and also we have the china daily newspaper which you can get outside. total propaganda for the people republic of china issue think the chinese sold the ideas of -- you might have studied at the naval academy but i'm wondering -- in the next few years, with our lower number of ships and the threat of sequestration over us and the con current expansion of the chinese power, how would you best manage our military

resources around the world. >> thank you for the softball question. so, admiral mullen when he was at our graduation, the chief of naval operations, told us to speak truth to power. as a junior officer, not to follow unethical orders or do anything to hurt the constitution. keep that in your heart first. the question you're taking about is way above our pay grade. [applause] >> and although they're very important issues, sir, and i think after we can discuss, but for this purpose, for this book, the vignettes we paint through these stories are timeless lessons of leadership that hopefully if we assume those leaders some day we act with integrity and noblity for our country. [applause]

>> sir in the blue shirt. [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> my name is graham plaster, and that hopefully shed some credit on the naval academy english department because i was an english major, elizabeth was an english major and we mobilized a lot of active duty and prior active duty military to do the book. so, if there's any literary merit there, you know, that does speak well of our program. but we did also bring in a lot

of hired help, some friends who are professional editors. the organization of the chapter you see wasn't what we started out with. we started out with more of a topical organization, looking more like a book of virtues approach, with different leadership aspects, and also different fields of specialization, and then over time we got a lot of entries on one group and not so many on the other and we had to re-organize, and we kept coming back to the editorial drawing board saying, what are the themes here? and at the end we said, obviously a theme of leadership, so that's current throughout all the stories. a theme of trying to cast a very positive and hopeful vision for the future of the country. in light of the leadership we have in our generation. so, we said, what tells the story the best? we just wanted to tell the story

chronologically, so we started to group them according to our experiences at the naval academy, reflections on things at the naval academy as they blend into combat experience, and then we ended the book with the experiences of our classmates that moved on the civilian and private sector. >> i was going to say, alex, your son, just so people know, was also a contributor to the book. and he crossed over into the army, so he is probably serving. next question? ma'am, this the front? >> honored to be here, and i have a question that may hit close to the bone, but when the theme is sacrifice, how does it strike these soldiers who are

sacrificing so much, to think about how the folks back home maybe are not sacrificing. is that troublesome? [laughter] >> i was looking for somebody to the left to answer that question. it's difficult. every one of us obviously signed up to serve for a very particular reason and purpose. you'd like to walk into a cds or 7-eleven and see five military veterans buying water and a pack of cigarettes but that's not the reality of this america. what is the reality, though, is that the folks that have served are very passionate about what they do. the folks that have served would tell everyone they know to serve. they will make their families proud. they will make everyone they went to high school and

elementary school with proud, and they will encourage others to serve. the beauty of this all-volunteer force, is that everybody is there that wants to be. everybody is there for a purpose. everybody is there to accomplish a mission. and the folks that, as our classmate seth was talking about, that get out of uniform, want to continue serving in some capacity. whether that's congress, whether that's local government, whether that is running for school board. we are taught to serve our country, and will continue to do so. so, while it does not necessarily make us all happy when you see folks decrying america, when you see folks talking about peace movements that don't exist, when in fact the folks in uniform are fighting for peace, much more than the folks burning american flags on the street. of course that doesn't make you feel good. but what should make you feel

good is the stories of the folks in the book and the stories of the veterans veterans who server 9/11 to answer your question. [applause] >> next question. [inaudible] >> can you tell us if they're going to be available so we can read those stories also? >> we had a lot of submissions -- can you hear me -- we currently have, what, 63 available, 33 are in the book, and 30 are already available or will be available very soon on the web site, and then will be published also -- i think our target date is the 15th, at the end of the week, for a kindle version. our objective was to be inclusive and get as many people involved as possible, and we had

submissions that ran the gamut from -- not very polished to very finished, but way too long. so, we did what we could to try to come up with a book, and then the rest of it we're going to promote in due time. [inaudible] >> sorry. wait one second. there we go. >> really loud. my dad is an auctioneer from kansas. i'm dr. ben ruska. i visited my grandfather and his farm in south dakota and also my grandfather's lake in minnesota, hearing about their stories of world war ii, and that got me

interested in history. can you talk about that? was that where the title came from? or your fathers or up -- uncles or grandfather. >> this is my last answer because i don't want to monopolize. this is i'm passionate about because i submitted this title and they bought into it. i was equally inspired by my grandfather -- both my grandfathers were in world war ii, one in the pacific and one in italy. and they cast a huge shadow, the greatest generation, and then all the volunteers at that time came after them cast a big shadow, for any of us who applied to a service academy or joined the military, we were doing that because we were inspired to do that. we fell the love with america at an early age and wanted to do something, and one of the difficult things is growing up in the '90s is that we had generation x, and the millenials on the horizon, we had this kind

of bad vibe that we had to break out of. we had to climb out from under the shadow of greatness, and so we went the naval academy aspiring to do great things, aspiring to achieve great things, and to sustain the greatness of america. and so gets me a little fired up when we talk about american exceptionalism. i look around at my classmates who wrote this book and achieved these things, and america is exceptional, and my kids are exceptional. i got four of them here. so, we wanted to write a book that was called, you know, the next greatest generation, which some people are saying about this generation. but we knew we couldn't say that because we wanted to approach that theme humbly and say, look, we want to be the next greatest generation. we aspire to that. but let's not say that ourselves. let's say, we're in the shadow of greatness, the greatness of our country, the greatness of our veterans, and we aspire to

cast our own shadow, and to inspire our children. and so that's throughout the introduction, and every chapter has that theme. [applause] >> thank you, elizabeth. elizabeth is my neighbor, and yesterday, when i was coming out from the capitol hill club, i met josh and he very graciously gave me his calling card, and i'm used to getting those from people who are running for office and would i support. i must say i've been deeply touched and when i looked at the card i first thing i did was ask my youngest grandson's mother, who is my daughter could he come with me tonight, and one of our

staff people is here. here's my point. we must not forget. i think that is urgent for so many aspects of american culture, and the best way to do it is to very judiciously and legislatively incorporate into the public school system that receives 9% of its budget from the federal government so we have some strings to pull. i'm a christian lobbyist at the capital. been there for 30 years doing this, representing churches, and this is a moral matter. it is a matter of the destiny and it's very existential any heart now, and thank you, josh, for giving me your card. i don't know what led you to do it. but there's that, and there's also the ship. i watched the film. and that ship needs to have an ability and a budget that will go not just to new york and down

the coast and maybe up as far as delware can get, if it can get to philadelphia -- what's that thing on the front now -- the nose? i'm not a navy person or engineer. but we need to go up to the west coast and help the folks in l.a. and san francisco and seattle to understand this. and that can all be done so it has a permanent purpose, especially when it's in new york, as a major attraction when the spring break comes and kids come from the eighth grade, it will just really keep this in the heart. so i make that prediction, and i'm going to be talking to you, since you're my neighbor, about this in terms of this coming fall after ringling brothers brr barnum and bailey's circus is over on november 6th. >> thank you. thank you. i gave you my business card

because i know you have some existential connections with the lord, and please pray for the book this week. we gave guidance to the writers. if you had ten minutes in front of an eighth grade clarks what would you tell them? what would you tell them about leadership? what did you experience over the last ten years, and how can we use this book to inspire young people to do great things? so all of those parents and grandparents out there, this is the back of choice. for that teenager searching, for that young person looking for direction, this will inspire them in and out of uniform. thanks for the question. >> we have time for two more. go ahead. >> thank you. dave paddock, '77. met josh on the board of trustees at the naval academy and had dinner with him as we discussed his participation as

one of the authors and the other seven here for the book. like to honor lisa, honor those whose names are engraved in the halls of memorial hall. we as sponsors have been on the conference calls and looking beyond patriot week, and i know we'll be working for that. could you share with others expectations and where to go beyond patriot week? >> this week, this launch, thanks to the navally memorial, the press and our cosponsors is launching a week campaign that will transition into a fall campaign, which will transition into a decade of honor. this is the only book you can find that captures the humble stories of diverse experiences. it's not one persons' dream or career. it's the most powerful vignette, the most critical moments of the past ten years in the front

lines. so our plan is to move forward this month with an aggressive book tour to go to universities and high schools and book stores throughout the country, in the west coast and kansas city and texas and all around, and share this message, and all you here are now part of the team. al of you here are now on behalf of us -- we're asking you to be advocates for the book. tonight, this week, through our webs. so that is our plan. this book is nobody profit and it's am pishes. -- ambitious. [applause] >> what josh means is please go home, like our facebook page, and then send it on to all of your friends. one more question. >> in maybe 1979 we joked about being the last graduates of the naval academy. i want to say how proud i am,

not only my daughter but all those who followed on her footsteps in the naval academy. my question is for matt's mom. what does the matt freeman foundation go when we get out of the middle east? >> we have an educational theme, and at this point, too, it's in any war-torn country. people from some of the areas over there, too. and we hope to be able to get into other countries as we expand. we really just started two years ago, and the requests are starting to come in more from individuals but we also have large shipments that go to you humanitarian warehouses and they pull from them, and each one of them is packed with information about matthew and the project and about the -- where it came from. i have wonderful pictures of principals in the schools over there, holding matthew's picture and saying, some day we'd like

to meet this woman because we thank her for these tools for our children. so, most of it has been local. it started -- our biggest launch came when teresa actually went into gulf port high school, where she was stationed, my daughter-in-law, and said my husband and i have been president and vice president of our student council and wonder if your student council would like to do this, and she called me two weeks later and said, i have boxes all over my condo, and they had two tons of school supplies they collected in two weeks. and we had to figure out now what to do with them. and we are working -- we have a new opportunity where you can come to us, go to my page, the math future freeman project, and sign up as a volunteer so we can get boxes immediately out. if we're low on supplies, we ask you to send a box. and you can do collections and

we work with spirit of america, marine-based organization, and they will come and pick up large shipments and get them to the humanitarian warehouses. if in fact we get to the point, which i would love to see, we don't need that -- that's why we're branching out into the scholarship areas and trying to help in educational fields within the fallen community. [applause] >> i think lisa, thank you for your comments, one of the things we wanted to make sure we left you with is we're all here to remember, take a moment and pause and remember those who passed on, and also moving forward with this book. a book how to take these lessons we learned and then impact our nation in wonderful ways in the future. so, we'd love you to join us outside for our signing time,

and thank you so much for all your questions. we could not have done this without all of your support, and i actually thank my mom for flying in today. thank you so much for everyone join -- joining us today. >> one of the things i hold most dear is that my father taught me to value education. and he was such a tyrant about it, and he often threatened to send me back to mexico if i didn't do well in school, but -- >> host: was that a scary threat? >> guest: it was because i real ly did believe him. >> host: you did not want to go back to mexico. >> guest: yeah, and i wanted to make him proud, and i felt that because i begged him to bring me, i felt i owed him that. i felt that i never wanted my

father to say, i shouldn't have brought you. >> winner of the american book award and international latino book award, on growing an illegal alien in los angeles, sunday night. part of book tv this weekend on c-span2. >> here's a look at books being published. mark bowden, author of black hawk down, chronicles the hunt for osama bin laden called, the finish. the killing of osama bin laden. journalist michael dons recounts the last six months of world war ii and the beginning of the cold war, six months in 1945, from world war to cold war. >> and william skinner one of the founders of the american silk industry. a man who turned disaster into destiny. >> in master of the mountain,

thomas jefferson and his slaves, historian winecheck friends the findings of recent archaeological work at jefferson's estate, monticello, and a science writer writes about the search for earth's twin. look for these titles in the coming week. >> 50 years ago, president job john f. kennedy was in the midst of the cuban missle crisis. >> george ball, johnson, george bundy.

>> it's the 50th anniversary

of the cuban missile crisis. with historyian, scholars, filmmakers, on sunday, 12:30 p.m. eastern, on c-span 3. >> the year was 1981 or 1982 and i was living in hong kong, where i was working for the asian wall street journal. i was the op-ed editor and one day a submission crossessed my desk, written by an italian journalist who was living in what the then called pay publish peck king. he had a visa to go to pyongyang and had written ant article for his publication about it and sent a translation to me hoping the asian wall street journal would publish it. of course we did, and i was really blown away by it. it was completely eye-opening to me, especially his description

of the mass public worship of kim il-sung, who was the leader of north korea. it was like reading 1984. george ore well's vision had come to life a few years earlier in the democratic people's'm of korea. i couldn't get the closing line of the italian journalists article out of my head. it read: when i got off the plane in be king, i kissed theground, happy to be back in a free country. a free con tri? china, in 1981? i'd been there i knew china wasn't free. was it really possible there could be a place that was -- that north korea could be worse? 30 years later, we know the answer to that question. north korea is the world's most repressive state. its people are the slaves of the kim family regime, which

controls every aspect of their lives. even weather they get to eat. religion is banned. there's no rule of law. and perceived infractions are met with harsh punishment, punishment i should add that is often meeted out to three generation office a person's family. a political offender knows that when he goes to prison, his parents and his children will probably go with him. there are probably about 200,000 north koreans today in the gulag, and more than a million, perhaps as high is a two million, have already died there. the reason we know all of this, and much, much more, is thanks to the testimonies of north koreans who have escaped. these are the people i write about in my book. this this knowledge comes to us despite the best efforts of the

kim family regime to keep it secret. for more than 50 years, ever since the end of the korean war, north korea has sealed off from the world's eyes. the kim family regime has pursued an isolationist policy and it maintains an iron grip on information. access to which is very strictly controlled. to give just one example, every radio must be registered with the government. and its dial must be fixed to the government run radio station. to enforce this rule, security police equipped with scanners cruise neighborhoods, trying to identify households where residents have tinkered with the radios and are tune into banned foreign radio broadcasts. surveys of north koreans hiding in china show a high percentage of them listened to foreign radio broadcasts in north korea, in the defiance of the rule, and their motivation to leave was in

fact in part influenced by what they heard on those foreign radio broadcasts. people are hungry for information about the outside world. north koreans who escape must first go to china. they can't go south to south korea, strange as it may seem, because the demill tarrized zone is by its name the most militarized boredder in the world and is impossible to get across unless you are a soldier who has been shown the safe route, and only a few people make it out of north korea by going across the dmz. instayed -- instead they to chinese, and in chinese the north korean finds they exchanged one for another. china's policy is to track down the north koreans in their country, arrest them and send

them back to north korea, where they face imprisonment or worse for the so-called crime of leaving their country. insure this policy, this chinese policy, is both immoral and is in contravention of china's obligations under international treaties it has signed. nevertheless, some of the forth koreans, who are hiding in china, decide to risk a second escape. out of china to south korea. no one can accomplish this feat on his own. some people can get out of north korea on their own and the hand of the rescuers rarely reaches into north korea itself, but if somebody wants to get out of china, they need help. the distances are too great and the challenges are too high for a north korean to do it on his own. this where is the new underground railroad comes in. like the original underground railroad in the precivil war american south, the new

underground railroad is a network of safe houses and secret routes across china. the operators are both human traffickers who are in it for the money, and christians whose religious beliefs impel them to help the north korean brothers and sisters. thanks to the underground railroad, which has been operating for about 12 years, an increasing number of north koreans are reaching safety in the south and a few other countries. the explosion in the number of north koreans who have gotten out in recent years is very striking. south korea keeps track of the north koreans who reach south korea, and let me share with you just a couple of the numbers. in 1990, only nine north koreans were able to reach south korea. last year, 2,777 north koreans reached safety in the south.

so, the people who get out now have formed a -- there are enough of them that they're educating us about the truth of life in north korea, and there have been several books published about life in north korea, and we now have a much better picture of what the truth of the existence is there. but the north korean refugees are performing a second equally important function. i do believe more important. they're helping to open up their own information starved homeland. just as the world now knows more about north korea, north koreans now know far more about the world. this, too, is thanks to the efforts of north koreans who have escaped. how do they do that? think a minute. any immigrant who goes to a new country, what's the first thing he wants to do? he wants to let his family back home know that he is okay.

and tell them about his new life. but for a north korean who wants to do that it's next to impossible you can't mike make a phone call to north korea. you can't send an e-mail or text message or facebook. and you can't even mail a letter. so, the exiles have created a black market in information. they hire chinese couriers to cross the border and deliver messages. or sometimes they deliver chinese cell phones to a north korean relative, to tell the relative to go to an area near the border, on a certain day, a at certain hour, turn on the phone and receive a phone call from their relative who has escaped to a different country. in south korea, north korean exiles have formed organizations whose purpose is to get information into north korea, to give just one example, there are four radio stations run by north

korean exiles that broadcast daily to north korea. the mantra of the kim family regime that north korea is the greatest, most prosperous nation on earth and that the north korean people are the world's happiest is being exposed for the lie that it is. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. >> up next on book tv, after words, with this week's guest hose, amy goodman. this week, the book, the invisible wounds of war, exploring the battle u.s. military personnel must fight once they return home from combat. she discusses the high rate of post-traumatic stress disorder and society.